Forearm and Vertebral Bone Mineral in Treated and Untreated Hyperprolactinemic Amenorrhea

To determine whether women with PRL-secreting pituitary tumors have similar decreases in cortical and trabecular bone and to determine whether the bone loss associated with hyperprolactinemia is reversible, we measured forearm and vertebral bone mineral in normal women and in amenorf heic women with treated and untreated hyperprolactinemia. The mean spinal bone mineral content in hyperprolactinemic women [130 ± 23 (±sd) mg/mL] was 25% lower than that in normal women (167 ± 28 mg/mL), while the mean forearm bone mineral content (0.71 ± 0.04 g/cm2) was similar to that in normal women (0.73 ± 0.05 g/cm2). Women with normal serum PRL levels and regular menses after transsphenoidal surgery had slightly higher mean spinal bone mineral content (149 ± 28 mg/mL) than women who remained amenorrheic after surgery (129 ± 19 mg/ mL), but the mean value in the cured women remained significantly lower than that in normal women. In contrast, women who had undergone successful transsphenoidal pituitary surgery had mean fo...